ASA ripoff Dick on webcams

[catseye]

well appears Dick has been ripped off by ASA again. Weather goes bad and the weather cams stop working.
Yesterday could really have used the Mt Boyce camera and it was holding an image stuck at 0527 UTC many hours late as the weather rolls in. Today keeps coming up as camera not available.
Air No Services to GA strike again.

[CaptainMidnight]

Mt Boyce and many other images are provided by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Airservices just host them on one of their web pages.

Images are supplied courtesy of the Bureau of Meteorology (http://www.bom.gov.au/aviation)

Please check the time stamp to ensure you are viewing a recent image (times are in UTC).

This webpage and it's images are not provided as part of a regulated service. This webpage and its images may be useful to assist in assessing actual weather conditions at the available locations, but do not replace official forecasts or observations. This webpage or its images should not be relied upon to be available, or up to date, for the purposes of flight planning, or decision making in flight. Airservices has taken all reasonable care in producing this webpage and republishing the supplied images, but it does not warrant they are free from error. Airservices accepts no liability arising from errors contained on this webpage or in the images provided.
http://weathercams.airservicesaustralia.com/

[Squawk7700]

I can’t get any of their cameras to come up at the moment via their website, but they are working through Avplan and Ozrunways.

I wouldn’t jump to say that they ripped off Dick as I know only too well as to how difficult it can be to keep cameras running 24/7. It sometimes takes a lot of time with no reward other than to have people complain when the picture is a little bit crooked.

[machtuk]

A high proportion of the webcam images on OzRyws don't work. I'd never rely on them!
Shame they are not reliable as they are a great idea!

[Squawk7700]

A high proportion of the webcam images on OzRyws don't work. I'd never rely on them!
Shame they are not reliable as they are a great idea!

Really?

As an example there are close to 50 airports with cameras in Victoria and at a high level guess I provide around 45 of those airport image sets to Ozrunways and Avplan. Aside from those that are offline due to ADSL and NBN issues, the uptime of those cameras has been 100% availability for the site, due to multiple cameras at each site. As you’ve seen, even the ASA cameras suffer a similar fate when comms are out.

Individual cameras do certainly fail, however there have never been complete camera failures at any site due to camera hardware failure.

As for “unreliable,” what do you mean exactly? Out of date images or missing all of the images from the site?

As an example the following sites are offline due to Telstra outages:

- Colac

The following sites are offline due to NBN modifications initiated by the camera host:

- Tyabb

Sites with failed camera hardware but multiple cameras so therefore limited impact:

- Lethbridge
- Tocumwal
- Swan Hill
- Lady Barron
- Bendigo

[Clinton McKenzie]

The Skycam Network cameras I installed on my hangar at YCTM used to randomly ‘go black’ permanently. Or maybe it was the router to which they are connected.

Anyhow, I put a timer in the power line that automatically turns off the router and camera power for 1 minute every night at midnight local time. Zero failures since then (except from 0000 to 0001 local each night).

Who knew that the solution to an IT problem would be to switch the gizmos off and then on again.

[Squawk7700]

The Skycam Network cameras I installed on my hangar at YCTM used to randomly ‘go black’ permanently. Or maybe it was the router to which they are connected.

Anyhow, I put a timer in the power line that automatically turns off the router and camera power for 1 minute every night at midnight local time. Zero failures since then (except from 0000 to 0001 local each night).

Who knew that the solution to an IT problem would be to switch the gizmos off and then on again.

Very common, especially on 4G.

I had to do that exact same complex fix on all of my 4G sites. Telstra seem to do work around 12-1230 each morning and the routers go offline. Once they are offline you can’t get them working without a reboot, even if you call their not so friendly helpdesk in the Philippines.

Personally I set them to at least 2am because sometimes the Telstra tech is running late when he logs in and screws things up completely.

It’s also a pain on 4G routers because you need to use one that doesn’t have a battery, otherwise you can’t reboot it with a timer.

[Dick Smith]

I think I donated $160,000 to Airservices to put in some extra weathercams but didn’t specify the location or price.

I have been assisting other people with weathercams at about $1,000 a go and they seem to be working really well at places like Mittagong.

I’m not sure what ASA has been paying for their weathercams. Possibly they are getting some gold-plated unit that is really not necessary. As long as the unit does not produce a false image it is going to add to safety overall.

I am happy to add a few more $1,000 encouragements for people to put in weathercams in difficult locations. I think they are really great for safety.

[Squawk7700]

I think I donated $160,000 to Airservices to put in some extra weathercams but didn’t specify the location or price.

I have been assisting other people with weathercams at about $1,000 a go and they seem to be working really well at places like Mittagong.

I’m not sure what ASA has been paying for their weathercams. Possibly they are getting some gold-plated unit that is really not necessary. As long as the unit does not produce a false image it is going to add to safety overall.

I am happy to add a few more $1,000 encouragements for people to put in weathercams in difficult locations. I think they are really great for safety.

Hi Dick,

Thank you for your generous offer.

I was contacted only just this morning about some safety critical locations in Tasmania that local flying groups are keen to get coverage on with cameras and any assistance would be very welcome!

The BOM Cameras that ASA provide are very expensive units from Europe with Swiss optics apparently. But, they serve a very different purpose, which is mainly to detect fog and low cloud in the dark. The pictures that we see from them are cut down low bandwidth versions that suffer often from halo effects.

We’ve got some 80+ sites on our webcam network with upwards of 170 cameras, however it’s difficult to get funding for off-airport locations. We don’t charge services or for profit on the cameras so we don’t have spare funds for such locations. For airports that don’t want cameras for some kind of security or privacy reasons(which is quite frustrating) I’ve had to resort to contacting local fire brigades to use their comms towers.

You can reach me at [email protected] or via PM if that is of interest to you.

Thanks!

[michigan j]

Thanks Dick - this may well save lives...

[catseye]

Thanks Dick - this may well save lives...

Looks like most of the ASA site webcams are offline again.

[Squawk7700]

Looks like most of the ASA site webcams are offline again.

Looks like it’s just their website as the pics are still available in Avplan and Ozrunways.

[CaptainMidnight]

Looks like most of the ASA site webcams are offline again.

Have you reported this to them either before or now?

Contact link down the bottom of that page.

[catseye]

Have you reported this to them either before or now?

Contact link down the bottom of that page.
Yep did that this morning. .

[Lead Balloon]

Anyone know who maintains the Gayndah webcams? (It’s not the aerodrome operator - the ARO didn’t know what I was talking about.) They’ve been offline for a while.

[Squawk7700]

I’ve got the details for Johan who runs them, I’ll call him shortly.

[717tech]

Squawk700, Dick, and others; thank you for making these camera a reality. Absolutely brilliant idea and I agree with others that say they could save lives.

[mcoates]

at our airport.. Heck Field Jacobs Well SEQ, we just updated from 2 to 4 they are so successful. More than one pilot says they were 'saved' from crossing the divide and getting into trouble because they could see the weather was bad at our airfield. If it saves one live or one outlanding then they have done their job at any cost in my opinion !

Weather Cameras (http://auswebcams.com/yhec/)

[Possum1]

For those who may not be aware, Stanthorpe(YSPE) now has a reliable weather camera where previously, there was none. It is located on a farm 14 km North of the aerodrome and hosted by Granite Belt weather (http://granitebeltweather.com) which is operated by an aviation-minded person called James. This image is very reliable but needs to be manually refreshed to update.

As a regular visitor to Stanthorpe, I have found this camera very useful in filling an information black hole. Reliable though the webcams are at Warwick Gliding Club to the North, local flyers will tell you that the weather can be completely different at nearby Stanthorpe and a whole lot worse than Warwick.

[Squawk7700]

For those who may not be aware, Stanthorpe(YSPE) now has a reliable weather camera where previously, there was none. It is located on a farm 14 km North of the aerodrome and hosted by Granite Belt weather (http://granitebeltweather.com) which is operated by an aviation-minded person called James. This image is very reliable but needs to be manually refreshed to update.

As a regular visitor to Stanthorpe, I have found this camera very useful in filling an information black hole. Reliable though the webcams are at Warwick Gliding Club to the North, local flyers will tell you that the weather can be completely different at nearby Stanthorpe and a whole lot worse than Warwick.

If the owners of the camera don’t mind, I can get that added to Ozrunways and Avplan.

[Possum1]

Hi Squawk, I have sent you a PM re contact information for Stanthorpe webcam being hosted on Ozrunways and Avplan. He replied within a day to my last email.

[mattycoze]

Anyone know who maintains the Gayndah webcams? (It’s not the aerodrome operator - the ARO didn’t know what I was talking about.) They’ve been offline for a while.

Yeah I've been in touch with them previously over how to set up a weather camera - it's the Burnett Flyers assoc... (contact [email protected] )

I've recently connected mine 2 mi west of YHBA (looking east over YHBA and Fraser Is) (i can't paste a URL yet as I have <10 posts... pah forum rules)

I hear Maryborough QLD (YMYB) may well add some cameras soon :)

[Squawk7700]

Yeah I've been in touch with them previously over how to set up a weather camera - it's the Burnett Flyers assoc... (contact [email protected] )

I've recently connected mine 2 mi west of YHBA (looking east over YHBA and Fraser Is) (i can't paste a URL yet as I have <10 posts... pah forum rules)

I hear Maryborough QLD (YMYB) may well add some cameras soon :)

The council at Gayndah are the ones responsible for the cameras there.

Maryborough cameras are awaiting installation.

[Possum1]

Here is mattycoze's URL for his new weathercam 2-3 miles west of Hervey Bay Airport: http://wbhbayeast.ddns.net/cgi-bin/api.cgi?cmd=Snap&channel=0&rs=1aa&user=outside&password=novel1&fbclid=IwAR1mcgIxnVZoFXtv-jn1m9ZnngEn-YbsLMa0oP761qGgRb9o8blIvIETWgw .

The North Burnett Council's cameras are working fine at Gayndah at the time of writing this.

The Burnett Flyers have their cameras operating at the Murgon grass runway which is adjacent to and south of the town. They operate during the hours of daylight but I think you have said before Squawk, the format is not suitable for display on other sites. I quite like it though as you can see the history of what has happened at the airstrip for the entire day. Their cameras are here: Current Weather Conditions at , (http://www.crosswinds.com.au/weather/current_vantage.asp) .